Saudi role crucial to Afghan peace: clerics

KABUL (Pajhwok): Religious scholars on Saturday urged Saudi Arabia to play a proactive role in ensuring lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

They praised the kingdom for its efforts to establish a proposed King Fahd Islamic Centre in Kabul, a $100 million project, which will take three years to complete.

The Islamic Centre will be built on Maranjan Hill in Kabul and it will encompass a university, a hostel containing 5,000 rooms, a mosque, a sports complex and a medical centre.

Officials and religious scholars expressed optimism the centre would help promote religious tolerance and interfaith harmony in the war-torn country.

“Saudi Arabia has always been against the twin scourge of terrorism and extremism,” remarked Saudi envoy in Kabul Misfer Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ghasibd. “Restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan is our main goal,” he added.

He said the proposed Islamic Centre would be named as King Fahd Mosque and its students would be taught to shun violence and extremism.

A religious scholar, Shams-u-Rahman Frotan, told Pajhwok Afghan News Afghan students would no longer need to travel abroad for higher education after the centre’s inauguration.

“Saudi Arabia can play a crucial role in bringing peace to Afghanistan but unfortunately the Arabs have done little practically in this regard. Saudi can build up pressure on all the warring factions to resolve their differences through mutual understanding,” he added.